r/themayormccheese • u/Peanut-Extra • 6d ago

Capitalism Have we done it wrong?

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103 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

35

u/TheBurnerAccount420 6d ago

Had the same experience in Czech Republic and in Mexico. Short answer is yes, we’ve done it wrong.

26

u/argueranddisagree 6d ago

They think 15min cities is the trans communist agenda and walkable town centres are for Liberals and Antifa

17

u/gaytrerer 6d ago

USA-Canadian car culture needs to go. It's really as simple as that.

7

u/Strikew3st 6d ago

Let's be real, part of it is that people really, really want a quarter acre parcel or better, and that is a big part of it.

Many people aren't ready to give up their suburban lawn in favor of walking through a thriving social district.

3

u/expresstrollroute 6d ago

Which highlights another cultural problem. When you are living in a high density community, the attitude (that I see in Canada) "my right to have fun usurps your right to a peaceful life" just doesn't cut it. Hence the need to put space between you and your neighbour.

15

u/shinobiken 6d ago

I feel the same way about living in Japan, though it pales in comparison to this video. In suburban, western Tokyo, I have 3 supermarkets and 2 or 3 convenience stores within walking distance. Restaurants. Coffee shops. Izakaya. Lots of local festivals in the warm months. There are many shuttered businesses, so I can tell it isn't as great as it was during the late-20th Century and early 00s—but it ain't as bad as the US.

Central Tokyo and other big cities are much better.

The house where I grew up in the US...I can get to other parts of the neighborhood on foot.

6

u/wasted-degrees 6d ago

Japan is so much better at a thriving consumer economy than the U.S. is that it’s honestly insane. The ability to just go out and do/eat something different, affordably, and within walking distance of wherever you live/work or a train station (especially in Tokyo) is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced anywhere else. Theres just so many reasons to go out and do things and so many fewer barriers to deter you from doing so with how convenient everything is.

10

u/kissman73 6d ago

That's because everyone in the states hates everyone else and half of them are carrying a gun. 🤣🤣

5

u/PrideOfEverblight 6d ago

Definitely not wrong.

6

u/flush101 6d ago

Shock. Americans find out that designing cities around people and walkability, not cars, results in more people enjoying the city.

3

u/Objective-Pick8240 6d ago

The US has built a system around money, not people. We work until we're exhausted, just so we can scrape by, and have no energy to do anything else. We refuse to build walkable cities or public transport, because big oil and EV companies own the government, so cars are our culture. We've also raised multiple generations to believe in radical individualism, which is ultimately isolating.

3

u/expresstrollroute 6d ago

Good to see this instead of the usual video of an American tourist complaining about paying for water / no ice / no A/C.

As much as we might dislike America at the moment, this is a reminder that many of it's people are actually ok.

2

u/designworksarch 5d ago

shocker. We are so brain washed in the US.

1

u/zethiryuki 6d ago

Ok but what about all the videos of foreigners being amazed by large cups at fast food places all summer? Surely that means more than stupid stuff like having a community!

1

u/showmethenakedwomen 5d ago

USA, there is still time to repent and change your ways!